As you probably know, Hawaii is famous for its macadamia nuts. We hadn’t really intended on visiting Mauna Loa, as it’s a huge tourist trap, but we saw it on our way back from Volcanoes national park, so we decided to stop by.
Oh, boy were we impressed. This fine establishment housed not only a rather large nut-centric gift shop, you could take the “factory tour” of the macadamia nut plant!
It all begins with your friendly tour guide “Mac the macadamia nut.” Through a handy video available in 8 languages, you can learn about the process of the picking, sorting, shelling, roasting, salting, packaging, and shipping of macadamia nuts. Through windows on the exterior of the factory, you can look in to see all the machines at work. What a marvel of modern technology!
Our favorite part was the free samples that were being given out at the gift shop. Unlike our friends on the tour busses, we were not on a time limit in which to choose our gifts and sample the macadamia nuts. I made sure to go to the sample bin several times to try the Maui onion, honey roasted, and the chocolate-covered varieties. Never mind the part when the friendly macadamia nut lady yelled at Oak for sampling too many at once. (WHOOPS!)
After all that shopping and sampling, we actually did not purchase anything at Mauna Loa – you could buy their fine goods at the ABC store for about 10% less.
If Mac the macadmia nut was not enough to entertain you, stay tuned. I have two more entries planned on Macadamia nut goodness!
May 11th, 2006 at 9:27 pm
Too bad there wasn’t a stuffed animal or bendable figure of Mac to bring home!! We could have some fun with him!! He’s cute